notblake: The point is the intensity of the Republican effort to overturn the 1960 results. What is happening now doesn't even come close. Here is the pertinent information, if you care about facts:
"More to the point, while Nixon publicly pooh-poohed a
challenge, his allies did dispute the results—aggressively. The
New York Herald Tribune's Earl Mazo, a friend and biographer
of Nixon's, recounted a dozen-odd fishy incidents alleged by
Republicans in Illinois and Texas. Largely due to Mazo's
reporting, the charges gained wide acceptance.
But it wasn't just Mazo who made a stink. The press went into a
brief frenzy in the weeks after the election. Most important, the
Republican Party made a veritable crusade of undoing the results.
Even if they ultimately failed, party leaders figured, they could
taint Kennedy's victory, claim he had no mandate for his agenda,
galvanize the rank and file, and have a winning issue for upcoming
elections.
Three days after the election, party Chairman Sen. Thruston
Morton launched bids for recounts and investigations in 11
states—an action that Democratic Sen. Henry Jackson attacked
as a "fishing expedition." Eight days later, close Nixon aides,
including Bob Finch and Len Hall, sent agents to conduct "field
checks" in eight of those states. Peter Flanigan, another aide,
encouraged the creation of a Nixon Recount Committee in
Chicago. All the while, everyone claimed that Nixon knew
nothing of these efforts—an implausible assertion that could only
have been designed to help Nixon dodge the dreaded "sore loser"
label.
The Republicans pressed their case doggedly. They succeeded in
obtaining recounts, empanelling grand juries, and involving U.S.
attorneys and the FBI. Appeals were heard, claims evaluated,
evidence weighed. The New York Times considered the charges
in a Nov. 26 editorial. (Its bold verdict: "It is now imperative that
the results in each state be definitively settled by the time the
electoral college meets.")
The results of it all were meager.
New Jersey was typical. The GOP obtained court orders for
recounts in five counties, but by Dec. 1 the state Republican
committee conceded that the recounts had failed to uncover any
significant discrepancies, and they halted the process. Kennedy
was certified the state's official winner by 22,091 votes. Other
states' recount bids and investigations similarly petered out.
Texas and Illinois, the two largest states under dispute, witnessed
the nastiest fights. In Texas, where Kennedy won the 24 electoral
votes by a margin of 46,000 ballots, the GOP took to the courts.
But its suits were thrown out by a federal judge who claimed he
had no jurisdiction. In Illinois, the appeal was pursued more
vigorously, maybe because the electoral take was higher (27) and
Kennedy's margin slimmer (9,000 votes). Charges focused on
Cook County (specifically Chicago) where Kennedy had won by
a suspiciously overwhelming 450,000 votes.
National GOP officials plunged in. Thruston Morton flew to
Chicago to confer with Illinois Republican leaders on strategy,
while party Treasurer Meade Alcorn announced Nixon would
win the state. With Nixon distancing himself from the effort, the
Cook County state's attorney, Benjamin Adamowski, stepped
forward to lead the challenge. A Daley antagonist and potential
rival for the mayoralty, Adamowski had lost his job to a
Democrat by 25,000 votes. The closeness of his defeat entitled
him to a recount, which began Nov. 29.
Completed Dec. 9, the recount of 863 precincts showed that the
original tally had undercounted Nixon's (and Adamowski's) votes,
but only by 943, far from the 4,500 needed to alter the results. In
fact, in 40 percent of the rechecked precincts, Nixon's vote was
overcounted. Displeased, the Republicans took the case to
federal court, only to have a judge dismiss the suits. Still
undeterred, they turned to the State Board of Elections, which
was composed of four Republicans, including the governor, and
one Democrat. Yet the state board, too, unanimously rejected the
petition, citing the GOP's failure to provide even a single affidavit
on its behalf. The national party finally backed off after Dec. 19,
when the nation's Electoral College certified Kennedy as the new
president—but even then local Republicans wouldn't accept the
Illinois results."
slate.msn.com
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